It took firefighters nearly an hour to bring the flames under control.

"All I know is I was in my bed sleeping and heard a loud bang at my door," neighbor Annette Thomas said.

It was a wake-up call Thomas said she will never forget. Her neighbor's house was engulfed in flames and her house was catching on fire as well.

"I ran down the basement, got my son and grand-kids out. The whole house was burnt up, just fire. We ran out in our night clothes," Thomas said.

According to fire investigators, the house somehow caught fire and quickly spread from the ground floor to the attic in a matter of minutes. The occupants of the house apparently woke up to the fire and had to jump out of a second-story window to escape, leading investigators to believe something was wrong with the smoke detectors in the home.

"They didn't say they awoke to smoke detectors, rather awoke to fire with a rapid fire spread. Either they weren't working, or the smoke detectors were compromised early in the fire," Baltimore County Fire Department Lt. Ray Ringgold said.

Family members who did not want to go on camera identified the occupants as Judy and Donald Schroyer, and their niece. Also, two dogs, which were inside the home, apparently did not survive.

All three victims were taken to Bayview Medical Center with second- and third-degree burns to the hands, minor burns on their faces and internal injuries from the fall.

"I was just sad. I did what I could for people who needed help," Ezequil Ramos said.

Ramos, who is on leave from the Marines, ran out of his mother's home a few houses down to check on the Schroyers, who were in shock. He said if they hadn't jumped, the outcome most likely would have been far worse.

"The two minutes it took the next-door neighbors to get out, was the two minutes it took to burn through. That house caught fire too, so it was pretty bad," Ramos said.

In the meantime, those affected by the fire are trying to take things in stride despite the timing -- a day after Christmas.

"We're going to be OK, rebuild, that's what insurance is for," Thomas said.

Neighbors and family members tell WBAL-TV 11 News they believe faulty wiring around the family's Christmas tree may have caused the fire.